Jenson Button left Australia with a disappointing race result and goes to Bahrain expecting much better prospects and the hope of a more favourable outcome.
The 2009 world champion salvaged a lackluster 14th place finish in Melbourne, a lap down on race winner Nico Rosberg, but Button believes that on its own merit McLaren-Honda ranks higher.
While he considers McLaren's current level of performance still a work in progress, with a few issues still to be sorted out, Button's motivation remains intact, as well as his hopes for collecting some points next weekend.
"I’m really keen to get back behind the wheel, as, although it didn’t show in our results from Australia, our package felt very good to drive and the team worked really hard to bring a step forward in driveability from testing to the first race.
"Bahrain is definitely a tricky track for us as it’s high-speed, but we have a solid platform and improved deployment, so there are some positives to look forward to."
Jenson Button is also confident that his team has learned from its strategic stumble in Albert Park which the British driver says was all about tyres and trial and error.
"We made a couple of misjudgements on the strategy side in Melbourne, but it's all part of the learning curve with the new tyre compound rules.
"Together with the engineers we've studied the data and hopefully we can make some good calls in Bahrain, pull together the various stages of the race and achieve a more representative result."
Button won in Bahrain in 2009, his title-winning year with Brawn, and admits the Sakhir circuit is one he greatly enjoys.
"Bahrain is a fun track to drive on and very different from Albert Park in its configuration. It’s tough on brakes and fuel, and good balance is key to putting together a lap, as you need downforce on the long, fast straights and then stability and traction through the lower-speed corners.
"It’s a more extreme version of Australia in many ways, with the track starting off very dirty and rubbering in over the weekend. While that makes the track faster, we also have to juggle the rapidly cooling temperatures on race day after the sun sets."
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